Tokyo · Central Tokyo
Kuroeya
Kuroeya is a shop for Japanese lacquerware (urushi). According to the shop, it was founded in 1689 by a merchant who came to Edo from the village of Kuroe in Kii Province, today the city of Kainan in Wakayama, an area known for lacquerware. In 1856 it moved to where it stands today, at the foot of Nihonbashi bridge.
The shop sells soup bowls, layered food boxes (jubako), tea coasters, trays and chopsticks, from several production areas in Japan, for example Yamanaka and Aizu. The shop emphasizes natural lacquer, but not every product is made of it.
Entry items are chopsticks: a pair in natural lacquer from ¥2,310. A round individual tray in the Negoro style from Yamanaka, 36 cm across, costs ¥17,050. In the Negoro style black lacquer is applied with red on top, and it is sanded by hand until the black shows through, so every tray comes out a little different.
Good to know
- The shop is on floor 2 of the Kuroeya Kokubu building, not at street level.
- Every product is marked as natural lacquer or polyester coating. Chopsticks with the 'flower basket' pattern, for example, have a polyester coating. If you are looking for real lacquer, check the label.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Kuroeya.
- HereKuroeya
- ~3 min
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